Sourcethief (Book 3) (43 page)

The twinborn was likely Ghelkan. It explained the
Kheshi connection, since both peoples shared similarities of hair and
complexion and a penchant for shunning marriage to outsiders, at least in
southern Khesh, if not the northern part. Education seemed a foregone
conclusion, since they had seen no signs of magic from their Kheshi
adversaries. The Ghelkan twin was almost certainly a sorceress. Of course
Ghelkan sorcerers would be taught the language of their most dangerous
neighbor.

"Brannis ... BRANNIS!" Soria's voice
pulled Brannis from his internal deliberation. She was a pace away, having
brought her horse alongside his.

"Sorry, what?"

"Either read it out or hand it here," she
replied, extending a hand to make clear her preference. He passed the Ghelkan's
note to her. Brannis watched Soria's face as she read: the eyes drifting one
way, snapping back the other, the gradual knitting of her brow as she went.

"No," she said as she finished. "No chance."
She crumpled the note and tossed it in Rakashi's direction. He snapped it out
of the air.

"Let's head south, and discuss it on the
road," Brannis replied in Kadrin. He gave a pointed look at the beggar
camp, trying to draw attention to the curious eyes that watched them.

"Fine," Soria replied in kind, "but
I'm not letting you walk in there alone, whatever trap they have set for
you."

"South road," Brannis repeated. There was
no way to tell who else here
might
speak Kadrin. It was a safer to get
clear of all attentive ears before hashing out a plan.

Rakashi said nothing, but folded the note neatly and
tucked it away in a fold of his tunic before they rode off.

* * * * * * *
*

"The answer is still 'no,'" Soria said,
the first to decide they had gone far enough to speak freely. "This isn't
even just clearly a trap, they're inviting you to become a hostage."

"And they would release Abbiley and
Tomas," Brannis countered. "They have no reason to lie; those two
really mean nothing to them. They'd be glad to be rid of the both of them, if
they had me."

"Yes, all the more reason not to hand you to
them," Soria replied. She spread her arms in a helpless gesture.
"Rakashi, help me talk some sense into him."

"There may be merit we have not heard yet. Let
him continue," Rakashi advised, and gave a shrug. "You can still
refuse to condone his plan after hearing all of it. I assume there is
more?"

"Yes," said Brannis, "I can figure
out who the twin is on the other side. It has to be someone involved in the
Megrenn Alliance, probably someone important. If I can work out who is trying
to influence the war, I might be able to put a stop to it from Veydrus. I don't
think either side quite knows what to do about Kyrus."

"I am not sure I like your plan," Rakashi
said, his voice low. He fixed Brannis with a narrowed gaze, which looked all
the more menacing, coming from a single eye.

"What's to like about it? Brannis, maybe you
haven't noticed, but there is a demon who is eventually going to wipe out all
of Ghelk anyway. You've said as much yourself," Soria pointed out.

"Who said anything about Rashan wiping them
out? I might be able to convince them to surrender."

"And what if they just want revenge?"
Soria shouted.

They all went silent for a moment. The horses'
hooves, previously forgotten, began to sound loud. The wind rustled in the
leaves.

"Soria," Brannis said at length, "how
would you like to work loose those saddle-still legs of yours?"

"I suppose it's as good a time as any
for—"

"Not us, just you. I'll even take your mare's
reins and lead her along with us," Brannis told her.

"What's that look in your eye? What have you
cooked up?" Soria asked.

"We are not being followed, Brannis. I would
have seen anyone," Rakashi said, tapping a finger to his patched eye, the
one that saw the aether.

"Of course we are being followed," Brannis
argued, "or trailed at least. You don't lay a trap this elaborate, only to
let your victim wander off and ignore it. Maybe it's one of the riders from the
group that has Abbiley and Tomas, doubling back, but more likely one of those
crossroads dwellers."

"How sure are you?" Soria asked, her voice
kept low.

"Don't mind your voice, they've got to be back
far enough that Rakashi can't see them in the aether. Likely they are just
following our trail. Once they've worked out that we're not traveling fast,
they will realize they can pace us afoot if they make an effort."

"Brannis, you never did this sort of thing
before, how would you know about trailing horses?" Soria asked. "We
are the ones who travel the countryside regularly."

"I don't have to. I just have to know that they
would want us tracked. Gut me if I know how to follow a horse trail when a
hundred horses must pass this way a week."

"So what do I do?" Soria asked. "Just
lie in wait for him."

"Off the road, yes. Behind a tree,"
Brannis said. "If you can manage it, leave no footprint on the road, so he
doesn't see where you went when he passes the spot. If there is more than one
of them, let one escape, and let him see you running to catch up with us."

"Ah," Rakashi said, a knowing grin opening
his stoic face like a seam.

"'Ah' what?" Soria asked. "Seems
straightforward enough."

"I think I see the next part," Rakashi
said. "Quite clever. I like this plan better. Sir Brannis wishes for them
to think we flee south. The disappearance of a single tracker might make them
think this; a returning tracker with a dead companion certainly would. If they
send word ahead, some of our adversaries may be diverted to chasing us."

Brannis nodded along during Rakashi's insights.

"I get it," Soria said. "We're going
overland when I get back, aren't we?"

"Yes," Brannis and Rakashi said in unison.

* * * * * * *
*

When Soria returned to find Brannis and Rakashi
waiting for her by the roadside, she was soaked with sweat. Before even
inquiring about her mission, Brannis tossed her a skin of water, freshly filled
from a nearby brook. She caught it and pulled the stopper in one smooth motion,
finishing it all before she reached them.

"There were three, not that it was any trouble.
Just a warm day to be fighting in armor," she said.

"One got away?" Brannis asked.

"Yeah, knocked him out with a blow to the
head," Soria said with a wink. "I gave 'em a quick check, and headed
back. I doubled back a bit later to check, and he was gone. Smart enough to
fake being dead, at least. Shall we be off?"

"Do we know where we're going?" Brannis
asked. "I don't suppose either of you know what might be along that
western road."

"A little village, with a keep," Rakashi
said. He sounded confident.

Soria shrugged, and gestured in Rakashi's direction.
"I was never much for memorizing maps. If there's a keep, it has to be
where they've brought them. That note made it sound easy for you to turn
yourself over to them." Soria brushed aside Brannis's offered hand and
vaulted herself into her saddle.

Their horses picked their way beneath the forest
canopy, the road soon out of sight.

* * * * * * *
*

Twilight saw Brannis, Soria, and Rakashi crouched in
the underbrush, watching the last of the sunset behind the back-lit towers of a
formidable hold. What war it had been built to stand vigil against, none of
them knew—not even Rakashi. It was square cornered, not a curve or arch evident
anywhere on the moss-dappled facade. A swift rushing stream served, on one side,
as a moat, while the rest of it sat back, nestled against a hillside. Tiny,
silhouetted figures walked the upper battlements.

"Before we start planning this, I need to know:
how much of a knight are you going to be about this?" Soria asked. She
looked Brannis in the eye as she asked it, no sign showing that she was
jesting.

"I would prefer we not murder the keep's
servants or burn the village down as a diversion," Brannis said, disturbed
to note the hint of a frown at the latter restriction. "Of course there is
likely to be a bloody path in and out. I have no quarrel with that." Soria
nodded.

"Fine," she said, agreeing to his terms.
"I have little worry about us fighting our way both ways, but we have to
be mindful of the two dainties we'll be dragging behind us like flour sacks.
You've seen him often enough, think you could run with Tomas over a
shoulder?"

"Run? Not likely, though I imagine I ought to
be able to carry him if he hurts himself. I had more envisioned Tomas keeping
up with us on his own, with me carrying Abbiley," Brannis said.

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Soria remarked.

"I guess we ought to attempt to find a way in
that gets us to the two of them quickly, then try to clear a safe path out for
them," Brannis said.

"Yes, the last thing we want is a knife to the
throat of the girl," Rakashi agreed.

"Brannis," Soria said. She took hold of
him by the shoulder, and turned him to face her directly. "If that
happens, you are
not
going to surrender to them. It won't end well for
you if they have you helpless. I won't let it come to that. If someone puts a
knife to her throat, I put a dagger in them."

"But what if—"

"Even if she gets hurt, yes," Soria said,
stopping Brannis before he could even finish the thought.

Brannis saw the look in her eyes. He must have had
the same look in his own when he told her to fly her ship into Zorren to rescue
Faolen. She was sending him into danger, he realized, at least to her way of
thinking—even if it was Brannis's idea, Brannis's plan, Brannis's twin's first
love.

"Well, let's just see that it doesn't come to
that," Brannis replied, working to get the words out past a lump in his
throat.

"Good," Soria said, pushing him back to
roughly where she had found him. She worked the buckles of her armor loose and
began squirming out of it, pulling the top over her head.

Brannis looked away, some instinct of vicarious
modesty taking hold of him. He fixed his gaze instead on Rakashi, pointedly
keeping the other man's line of sight monitored. Rakashi seemed to be doing
likewise.

"You can look now," Soria said a few
moments later. When Brannis turned his head, he saw Soria shaking hers in mock
disbelief. "You two are something to behold, the both of you. I didn't
even undress, and you've both seen me in far less." She was wearing the
loose black ensemble that she used for night work, including the cloak that
doubled as a mask.

"Be careful in there ... please," Brannis
said. Soria leaned down and kissed him, lingering long enough to make Brannis
self-conscious of Rakashi's nearness.

"If I was careful, I would still be scrubbing
floors in the Tezuan temple," she replied. Brannis lost track of her soon
after, as darkness had fully fallen, and she made her way to the keep. He
watched Rakashi stare off toward the keep a while longer, presumably still able
to see her outline in the aether.

"I stopped telling her such things when
parting," Rakashi said. "I never liked the answers I got back."

"You lot must have walked into your share of
traps, I imagine," Brannis said, settling in for a tense wait. "I'm
sure she will be fine." The clenching of his stomach kept his mind from
rationalizing away his worries for her.

"Once or twice perhaps, intentionally,"
Rakashi replied. "Do you think any of the new spells she has learned from
Lord Harwick could be of use to her?"

"Not without time to practice them. She really
is bad at it, you know. Juliana would be just as awkward fighting bare fisted
though, I imagine," Brannis said. "This would all be so much easier
if Kyrus and I had not switched places."

"I imagine a great many things would be
easier."

"Like just walking in there, demanding the
return of the two of them, then transferring us all back to Scar Harbor,"
Brannis said.

Rakashi looked at him. It was hard to tell the look
in the leaf shadowed moonlight, but Brannis suddenly realized that maybe he had
said too much.

"You have heard of the Test of Kings?"
Rakashi asked.

"Yes."

"Think on whether you would pass or fail,"
Rakashi advised.

* * * * * * *
*

A crash of underbrush had Brannis grabbing for the
hilt of Avalanche, but a firm hand held him in check. Soria slumped down next
to him. He had not even heard her approach until she was close enough to have
slit his throat, had she been so inclined. Brannis found his breath quickening
and his heart racing.

"Scared you?" Soria asked. Brannis heard
the smile in her voice more than he could see it.

"Well, I suppose I don't have to ask whether
you are all right," he replied.

"What did you find?" Rakashi asked,
cutting the banter short.